A Moment to Breathe

It takes a minute to realize that the semester is, in fact, over. We shift through phases in our lives with ease or reluctance, transitioning peacefully or kicking and screaming. Nonetheless, we keep moving as we must. I've completed my first year of school in a new city, in The City, lived in my first apartment for a little over seven months now, gone from fall to winter to spring, and now, nearly to summer here, transitioning from a fresh face to a friend, a regular, an employee, and a student, all of which suggest familiarity and an earned place. This city is becoming my home.

Speaking of being an employee, I've just this week found a new job in a Williamsburg restaurant. The place proves busy, friendly, and accommodating, and I'm more than happy to be there. I actually got the job through my manager at my previous retail job. She recommended me to a friend of her's who owns the restaurant and he trusted her word, gave me a shot, and employed me. This is the first time I've ever left a job so peacefully that my previous employer helps me to find my next job. 

Indeed, my boyfriend and I are continually blessed by the people we meet here, the friendly faces who have welcomed us into their city with open arms and kind smiles. I think it's a Brooklyn thing.

A Thought: There's definite karma in the service industry, I've come to learn. Especially in places one frequents often. The better you treat them, the better they treat you, and so on and so forth. By just being friendly and talkative, people remember you and, in subtle ways, thank you for the kindness. At least that's what I've experienced through the occasional free coffee or drink.

A Find: Blue Bottle coffee in Williamsburg on Berry St. They have absolutely amazing coffee and espresso, expert latte art, friendly staff, and a roastery in the back that's fun to look at. If you want coffee and are in the area, definitely stop by.

Bushwick Beach

We sit like vagabonds on the stage outside of the neighboring café. Musicians, artists, students, and shamans. We convene like we have nothing to do, and we do, in fact, do nothing. We are Bushwick in the spring, drinking in sun and coffee, working on our tans like that’s our only goal for the day. We mislead, however. As lazy as we may look in this moment, we, in fact, are not.  Each of us have personal definitions of what it means to be a part of the “New York hustle.” We two-step for employers, gigs, galleries, shimmying for recognition and bustling for rent. We get it done, do it right, and write our memoirs. We are Bushwick, out on “Bushwick Beach” taking our breaks.

This hustle, however, has temporarily left me once again unemployed. After leaving my retail job in hopes of a serving job, I have yet to actually land that serving job. In one light, I now have more time to devote to my final papers. In another, I have less cash than I had hoped. Alas, this is part of the cycle. As my mother always told me, you can’t grab the next trapeze bar without first letting go of the last one. That brief moment, in between bars, is not only the scariest moment by far, but also the moment in which you briefly fly. That’s what I have to keep in mind, though it’s not as easy as you might hope. Anxiety keeps nagging in the back of my mind while I’m continually pushed forward into the void.

I did have an interview that may prove to be promising, however, as bizarre as it was. Not that the interview itself was bizarre, but rather the entire process of interviewing is rather interesting. You stand before your potential employer, your vocational history on paper with minor description, trying to personify everything the position you seek desires in your personality and being, in a ten to fifteen minute snippet, if that. Interviews are really terrible ways to see how someone will be as an employee, especially since more employers make up their minds within a minute of getting their first impression of you. Knowing all this makes the process all the more intimidating. Maybe ignorance is bliss.

A Thought: Despite previous comments, I think I’ve come up with an interviewing method. It requires a balance of confidence and humility: confidence in that you are the perfect employee and everything your employer could want, humility to recognize that you are still the employee and that the other is the employer. Be personable, yet direct. Make them like and remember you, but don’t waste their time. Be honest, yet in a positive light.

A Find: Black Brick café in south Williamsburg. One of the finer espresso bars in Brooklyn, I’d say. Really knows their stuff and makes fantastic lattes and cortados.